Breathless: The Story of JaggedClan
What I have to say before writing the actual fanfic. This is my first fanfiction, and I'm also pretty much a total noob, so yeah... Oh! And I might put more like ten times a day if I'm bored. Prologue (A/N: I think this part seems sort of, well, too romanticish. I'll just have to make their relationship fail.) A young, golden-furred she-cat sat on the edge of a cliff, gazing at the setting sun in front of her. She seemed to be waiting for something, something that only she and the Clan's leader, Cliffstar, knew about. But the other cats in the Clan just thought she was thinking about nothing. Out of nowhere, a large smokey grey tom sat down next to the she-cat. "Hey, Sunshine." he meowed cautiously. Sunshine smiled a bit, turning her head slightly to look at the tom. "Hi Cliffstar." she mewed with a tentative smile. "You remember how I told you I would think about your question yesterday, well," Cliffstar looked around to see if anycat was looking, and answered in a slightly quieter voice. "The answer is yes." Sunshine felt happier than she ever had. "R-Really?" she stammered, her golden eyes shining brighter than usual. "I-I mean, you could choose any she-cat in the Clan. I don't see why you would choose me, when I'm nothing compared to the other she-cats." Cliffstar smiled a bit. "I chose you because you're amazing." he meowed. "Better than all the other she-cats." About 4-5 moons later.... Sunshine sat in the nursery, wondering when her kits would come. She had moved into the empty nursery a few days before, expecting Cliffstar's kits. She hoped they would come soon, because she could barely stand waiting. She wanted to see the little kits play around with each other, and watch as they grew up to become great cats. But she couldn't for a while. Streamfur, the medicine cat, had said that the kits would be born in the middle of leaf-fall, which was four moons away. Cliffstar had pretty much forced her to do nothing but lay around all day, so she was eagerly awaiting company of any age. She sighed, wondering if she could survive being bored for a few moons. Little did she know, after the kits were born, she would have way to much fun for one cat. Chapter 1~ The Adventure Begins Dawnkit has always thought the nursery was boring. She goes to explore the camp every chance she gets. She is also the best climber out of all the kits, which includes her, her brother Greykit, and their sunrise-old cousin Boulderkit. The young kit hs always wanted to become leader one day, which she might. (No spoilers here. Move along.) She also tries hard to leave the camp so she could be able to walk along the trails better than her brother, who spends most of the time wrestling with a piece of old moss. Anyway, lets get to the story. Dawnkit blinked open her little dark grey eyes, and stood up. She walked out of the nursery briskly, not wanting to have to stay behind for her mother to wash her, or her brother to annoy her. She had something very important to do. She stopped next to the apprentices' den and looked inside, her eyes resting on a snoring grey pile of fluff. "Sharppaw!" she hissed, trying not to wake up any of the other apprentices. "Sharppaw, wake up!" Sharppaw snorted a bit, and sat up, staring at Dawnkit. "Why're you here...Oh yeah." his voice faltered a bit. "I over-slept, didn't I?" Dawnkit shook her head. "You're right on time." she mewed, trying to keep her voice quiet. "Now lets go!" Dawnkit nodded to Sharppaw, and walked into the dirtplace, which was a tunnel that leads down into a little cave, and then back up a ways outside camp. The little blue-grey she-kit poked her head out of the other hole, looking for Sharppaw. She saw the outline of a cat coming towards her, so she walked right over to it, believing that it was the grey apprentice. "Well, well." the cat meowed sternly. "Dawnkit, again. When will you learn not to go exploring outside of camp?" Dawnkit let out a little squeak of surprise as the cat lifted her up. "Sharppaw was coming with me, Rootclaw!" she mewed. "It's not like he would let me die." Rootclaw set the little she-kit down at the entrance to the camp as Sharppaw walked over to them. "I'm sorry." the grey apprentice whispered. "He realized that I was taking you out there. I bet I'm gonna get punished too." Dawnkit sighed loudly. The one apprentice that wouldn't tell any other cat where they were going got caught. It was just Dawnkit's luck. She was probably going to be kept in the nursery an extra moon or something like that. Rootclaw walked back over to the to young cats with another, older cat. "Why can't you stay in camp like your brother?" the other cat asked, a bit of amusement in his voice. "It's boring here, Cliffstar!" Dawnkit mewed, sighing dramaticly. "Why can't you change the code?" Cliffstar tried to look strictish, but there was still a big smile on his face. "Because the code was made by the founders of the Clans. We can only add to it." he told his daughter. "Besides, you might get hurt out there." Dawnkit sighed again. "The worst that could happen is that I would fall off some of the narrower paths. It's not like those ones are above sharp rocks, or a tree-length above the ground." she mewed somewhat angrily. Sighing, Cliffstar sat down next to the young kit. "Listen," he started. "If you leave camp one more time, you'll have to wait another extra moon to become an apprentice." Dawnkit gasped unrealisticly. "Oh, no!" she mewed, her eyes wide in fake shock. "I'm so worried!" Cliffstar sighed again. "Keep acting like that, and you'll never be an apprentice." he said sharply. "You don't get any special privileges just because you're my daughter." "But, no one told me that I couldn't do stuff that other kits can't." Dawnkit meowed, who was now trying to not get any punishment. "I told you that about a hundred times, remember?" Cliffstar asked accusingly. Dawnkit went into flashback mode, and stared up at the sky. A few moments later, she blinked, and said, "No, you never said anything like that." Cliffstar went into flashback mode now, and, after he was done looking at flashbacks, meowed, "Uh...yes I did." Dawnkit sighed, sounding slightly angry. "Fine." she huffed. "Give me the punishment." "You won't get a punishment this time." Cliffstar meowed. "But next time you'll be severely punished." Dawnkit blinked, wondering what her father meant by 'severely punished'. The normal punishment she got was having to bring fresh-kill to the elders for a week. What would be worse than that? Chapter 2~ The New Apprentices "Wake up! Dawnkit, wake up!" Dawnkit batted her paws at nothing and tried to fall asleep again. "Dawnkit! Gettup!" the voice squeaked again. After a moment, Dawnkit opened her eyes, and saw Boulderkit, her two moon old cousin, sitting next to her. "I woke you up by myself!" Boulderkit squeaked, his amber eyes shining. "Wha-Why?" Dawnkit asked, yawning a bit. "'Cause Greypaw told me to wake you up early today!" he said happily. Dawnkit quickly remembered how Greypaw became an apprentice before she did because Dawnkit always got in trouble. Now, just a moon after her brother's ceremony, she was going to become an apprentice. In that time, Sharppaw had become a warrior, and he is now Sharptooth. (A/N: Guess where I got that one.) Also, Rootclaw, that cat who found Dawnkit outside of camp last time, had become deputy after the old deputy slipped and fell off a steep ledge with sharp rocks at the bottom after a two-day-long storm. Anyway, lets get back to the story. Dawnkit was really excited. She could finally get out of camp without getting in trouble! "Thanks for waking me up, Boulderkit." Dawnkit mewed, hoping someone heard how 'nice' she was and would tell Cliffstar to give her the toughest warrior in the Clan as her mentor, or something like that. Dawnkit's just weird like that. Boulderkit nodded as Dawnkit sped out of the nursery to announce to everyone that she was going to become an apprentice in a little while. *** "Dawnkit, you have reached the age of six moons, plus the extra moon you had to wait, and you are ready to become an apprentice." Cliffstar began, the tone of pride in his voice unmistakable. Dawnkit, who was standing right in front of the low ledge her father was standing on, glanced back at her mother and brother, who were smiling ear-to-ear, and looked back up. "From this day on, until you become a warrior, you will be known as Dawnpaw. Your mentor will be Sharptooth. I hope that he teaches you all that he knows." The newly named Dawnpaw was so excited that she barely heard the name of her new mentor. Wait, she thought confusedly. Why would he choose Sharptooth? Wasn't he with me last time I 'escaped'? Sharptooth had already reached Dawnpaw, and the two of them touched noses. "Sharptooth," Cliffstar kept speaking. "You are ready for your first apprentice. Sunshine and Rootclaw have both taught you well. You have courage and initiative, and I hope you pass these traits onto your apprentice." "Dawnpaw! Dawnpaw!" the crowd cheered. Dawnpaw strutted over to her waiting family. "You've finally made it!" Greypaw mewed, mock surprise in his voice. "As if I would be in the nursery forever." Dawnpaw replied, sounding happier than she had in a while. "Congratulations, Dawnpaw." Sunshine purred, and Dawnpaw smiled widely. Sharptooth walked over to his new apprentice happily. "After you go claim a nest in your den," he meowed. "Do you want to do a bit of hunting practice?" Dawnpaw nodded happily. This is the best day of my life! she thought, walking over to the apprentices' den. Chapter 3~ The Intruders "Reach higher! Higher, Dawnpaw, higher!" Sharptooth shouted. Dawnpaw strained her paws to reach the next ledge. It had been a moon after her apprentice ceremony, and Sharptooth was showing her how to quietly climb up the cliffside, but with all the shouting he was doing, anything in the territory could hear them. "You're almost there!" Sharptooth yowled encouragingly, even though Dawnpaw thought she was only about halfway up. "Just reach a bit higher!" "I can't reach any higher!" Dawnpaw snapped, her enthusiasm for training long gone. "And I'm not even halfway there anyway!" Dawnpaw heard Sharptooth mutter something under his breath about lazy 'paws, when the ledge she was trying to scramble onto started to crumble at the edge. "Uh...Sharptooth?" she whimpered, her paws slipping faster than she could climb. "Sharptooth, help me!" Sharptooth quickly and easily climbed up the nearly vertical slope, and grabbed onto Dawnpaw's scruff. "Gotcha!" he meowed, his voice muffled from Dawnpaw's fluffy neck fur. The two of them slid down to the path below them, and Sharptooth dropped his apprentice. "I'm going to go tell Cliffstar about the ledge. You stay here." he ordered, and Dawnpaw nodded, sitting down. Soon after Sharptooth left, Dawnpaw heard some scuffling and a muffled ow coming from the path above her. "Wh-who's there?" she asked, standing up quickly. There was just silence, except for a bird hopping on a branch and a warm breeze blowing around the mountain. Right after Dawnpaw decided that she was just hearing things, there was some snickering which was quickly cut short. "Whoever you cats are," Dawnpaw growled, her fur fluffed up. "You'd better leave before I can get my claws on you." The snickering came again, louder this time, and Dawnpaw started to climb up the cliffside slowly, growling just loud enough for the cats to hear. "You'd better run!" she grumbled, making it up faster than she had expected. When she could see over the edge, Dawnpaw saw two full-grown cats, a pale brown tom that blended into the dusty rocks around him and a muscular white tom who was as noticable as a snowflake surrounded by blackness, and they both had their claws unsheathed, ready for a fight. Noticing Dawnpaw, the two of them sheathed their claws, smirking. "It looks like we've just found a kit, huh Dust?" the white tom meowed, nudging his companion with his shoulder. "Yep, Cloud, we do." Dust snickered, reaching out to push Dawnpaw aside. To the young 'paw he asked, "Do you know what we do to kits like you?" Dawnpaw smirked as evilly as the toms did. "I bet you don't do this." she meowed, walking back to slide down the cliff. The toms' faces were screwed up in anger as Dawnpaw tumbled down the slope. That same heartbeat, Sharptooth and Cliffstar appeared, and Dawnpaw ran over to tell them about the toms. Chapter 4~ The Announcement Dawnpaw yawned, standing up in her nest. It was only about a week after the rouges/loners were sighted, but it felt like moons for Dawnpaw. She went on a border patrol, a hunting patrol, and still had to do a lot of training. Walking out into the clearing, she noticed that there was a large crowd of warriors, and they all seemed to be agreeing to something. Walking over to Sharptooth, who was the nearest cat, Dawnpaw whispered, "What's going on?" Sharptooth looked over, and replied, "Those rouges you found, along with a lot more, attacked Tumbleweed when she was going on a walk. She would've died if the dawn patrol hadn't found her." Dawnpaw felt a burning rage inside her. Tumbleweed wasn't just her favorite elder, she was also Dawnpaw's grandmother. "Are we going to go attack them?" she asked, her claws scraping at the warm rock beneath her paws. Sharptooth shrugged. "I don't know yet." he meowed. "It's up to the senior warriors to decide." Dawnpaw blinked, and then nodded. Noticing her brother Greypaw, she padded over and told him what was happening. *** "We are going to go attack those rouges!" Cliffstar yowled. Dawnpaw lifted her head. It was past sunhigh, and the warriors had been talking about it since the dawn patrol got back. If I was leader, Dawnpaw thought, We would've beaten those fleabags by now. Cliffstar wasn't done speaking. "I'm going to take Rootclaw, Boulderheart, Peakfur, Sharptooth, and-" The leader hesitated as if he didn't want the cats he was about to announce go. "-Sunshine, Greypaw, and Dawnpaw." Dawnpaw's eyes widened in shock. She was about to go to her first battle! "I-I get to go? Really?" she thought out loud. Greypaw, who was sitting in one of the empty caves, shoved Dawnpaw lightly. "Can you believe it?" he asked. "We get to fight those rouges!" Dawnpaw, who seemed like she believed it now that her brother was with her, smirked. "I wonder why you got picked." she joked, pouncing on him playfully. The young tom growled at her non-threatiningly. "You'll pay for saying that!" he mewed, testing out a new battle move. Dawnpaw dodged her brother's paws by a mouse-length, and smirked at him. "Those rouges won't get hit by you at all." she purred, butting him in the shoulder. Sunshine padded over, separating the two littermates. "You two should save your energy." she meowed, sounding just like a mother teaching her kits. "Cliffstar said that we leave at dusk." Dawnpaw sighed. "We're just practicicing!" she mewed. "I don't want to rest, anyway!" "Then go eat some fresh-kill." "But I'm not hungry!" "Then go talk to your mentor." Sunshine commanded softly, her patience running thin. Muttering, Dawnpaw went to go sit in on of the caves, and scoured her claws down the wall. "I'll scratch them out if we win." she said to herself, calming down *** "Let's go!" Cliffstar yowled, waking Dawnpaw up. The 'paw quickly made her way to the battle patrol, but was stopped by Boulderkit, who was about three moons old, and smart for a kit. "Make sure you come back." he mewed, reaching up to touch his nose to Dawnpaw's. Her eyes misting up, she nodded, remembering that her and Greypaw were the closest things he had to littermates. "I'll come back for you." she whispered as the patrol left camp. Chapter 5~The Journey Dawnpaw sat in the back of the cave the battle patrol was sheltering in for the night, next to Greypaw and Sharptooth. They had left camp around dusk, and it was already moonhigh. Sharptooth had pointed out that right where the attack had taken place had a strong scent of the forest below the mountain, so that was where the group was headed. "What's the forest like?" Greypaw and Dawnpaw asked Sharptooth, sounding almost like kits asking about new stuff they found. "Well," Sharptooth started, and Dawnpaw remembered that he had spent an entire night there as part of becoming a warrior. "It has grass, which is green and soft, and many, many more trees than we have up here, and they're taller too." "Is it where the warriors collect the moss for our nests?" Dawnpaw asked wonderously. Nodding, Sharptooth meowed, "It is. Streampelt gets most of her herbs from down there, too." Streampelt was the medicine cat, and also Rootclaw and Sunshine's sister. And Dawnpaw, Greypaw, and Boulderkit's aunt. After a little while of talking, Cliffstar, who was on watch, quietly growled at them to go to sleep. *** The next morning, Dawnpaw was pretty much the first cat to wake up, besides the cat on watch, and she was excited to get down the mountain. She quickly poked Greypaw and Sharptooth until they woke up. "Come on!" she whispered happily, and nearly ran into Peakfur, who was on watch. "The sun's barely risen." Peakfur pointed out to the two apprentices and the young warrior. "Everyone else is still sleeping." "Yea, yea, whatever you say, mom." Sharptooth grumbled, sounding like he did as the fun-loving apprentice he used to be. (A/N: Yes, Peakfur is Sharptooth's mom. Why else would he call some random she-cat mom?) Anyway, the rest of the patrol woke up fairly quickly, and they went on their way to the forest. Chapter 6~The Fight The cats finally made it to the forest after a day of traveling. The rouges 'camp' was actually right near where the path ended. Cliffstar was standing face-to-face with Cloud and Dust, the three of them snarling. "You came because we attacked that old fleabag, right?" Cloud asked, and Dawnpaw, who was at the back of the patrol, growled. Cliffstar looked back at his patrol. "That's the entire reason." he hissed. "Atttack, DarkClaws! Attack!" the voice suddenly came out of nowhere, and suddenly all the rouges, which are apparently called the DarkClaws, ran forward. Dawnpaw raked her claws down a large tom's head, and bit down on another tom's paw. "Dawnpaw!" a voice yowled. The young apprentice turned, and saw that Greypaw was being attacked by a group of apprentice-aged rouges. "I'm coming!" she replied, headbutting the closest on in the side. The rest of the rouge-apprentices seemed confused, and Greypaw was able to get up. Dawnpaw clawed at two approaching cats, and ducked under one that tried to jump on her head. The two apprentices landed blows quickly, and had a few of them retreat pretty quickly. "You think we should show them what a real warrior can do?" Dawnpaw asked after a while, raking her claws down one of the cats face. "Yep." Greypaw replied, kicking two of the cats in the face. "Lets do it!" Dawnpaw hopped up into the air, and wrapped her front paws around a tree branch, and left her hind paws dangling off, kicking every rouge that tried to claw her. Greypaw climbed up next to her, and the two let go quickly, and landed on a cat's back, clawing at it's ears. The cat they were on reared up onto it's hind legs, throwing the two off. Dawnpaw layed there on the ground for a moment, the wind knocked out of her, and Greypaw pulled her up quickly. "Thanks." she managed to mutter before she jumped at one of the rouges. Out of nowhere, there was another cat, who seemed to be helping the two apprentices. Dawnpaw turned, and relaxed as she now knew that it was just Sharptooth, who bashed two of the cats heads' together. "Cliffstar said not to kill them." the young warrior whispered to his apprentice, who seemed about ready to rip a cat's throat out. Dawnpaw nodded, and settled on raking her claws down the cat's face harshly. "Got it." she replied, leaping into the main fight to help her brother. *** By sunset, the group of fighting rouges had decreased greatly, and all the JaggedClan cats were fighting together now. Dawnpaw was on her hind paws, back-to-back with Greypaw, lashing her paws out at a big, muscular tom. Dawnpaw winced as the tom landed painful blows on her head and belly. Lunging forward, she bit down on his leg, not releasing at all until the salty taste of blood filled her mouth. The tom shook his leg franticly, and Greypaw was able to shred the tom's ear to a jagged stump. "Nice one." Dawnpaw meowed, spitting the blood out of her mouth. Greypaw smiled a bit, and they kept fighting. A little while later, the sun was long gone by then, Cliffstar let out a triumphant-sounding yowl. "The DarkClaws' leaders have given up! JaggedClan has won!" The small patrol of warriors cheered loudly, and the rest of the rouges just snarled loudly. Dawnpaw kicked the rouge closest to her harshly, and it shut up quickly. "Come on, JaggedClan!" Cliffstar continued. "We're going home." Chapter 7~ The Normal(ish) Life Dawnpaw sighed as she sat down near the apprentices' den. The battle had happened a moon ago, and the DarkClaws' two leaders had been taken prisoner. Everything just went back to normal after that. Dawnpaw just thought it was boring now. Border patrols, hunting, training. It just stopped being exciting. Anyway, Dawnpaw heard somecat walking up behind her. "What is it?" she asked, not bothering to look to see who it was. "Cliffstar wants you." The reply was quick, and Dawnpaw realized that it was Greypaw. "Why?" she asked, standing up and turning around quickly. "I'm not allowed to say." Greypaw meowed, a smile forming on his dust-covered face. Dawnpaw ran down to her father's den, wondering what he wanted her for. "I'm here!" she mewed cheerfully. "What did you need me for?" Cliffstar turned around in the darkness. "I need you to..." he stopped for a moment, as if he wasn't sure what he was about to say. Dawnpaw stood there silently, hoping she was going to get to do something amazing. Cliffstar cleared his throat. "You and Greypaw will be helping me and Rootclaw set up the Greenleaf Ceremony." he meowed. Dawnpaw just blinked, her thoughts all jumbled up. She had always wanted to see a Greenleaf Ceremony, but she didn't want to set it up. "What do we have to do to set it up?" she asked, shaking her thoughts away. "Well..." Cliffstar paused for a moment, and resumed. "We have to have something like a 'berry toss', or a race. And it's the one time that kits can leave camp." Dawnpaw started to smile a bit. "Why couldn't we have a Leaf-Bare or Newleaf Ceremony?" she asked good-naturedly. "Because we have the Greenleaf Ceremony on the longest day of Greenleaf, which is when the Clan was formed." Cliffstar informed her, smiling. Dawnpaw purred quietly, and asked, "When do we start?" *** Dawnpaw reached up to a low ledge, and put some rocks in a ring-shape. She also nudged a few berries into a small pile. "This good?" she asked. Rootclaw looked over at her. "Make the ring smaller, and get more berries." he ordered, and went back to trying to make an obstacle course. "Yea, Dawnpaw." Greypaw purred, his voice low so that Rootclaw wouldn't hear. "Make the rocks rounder too." Dawnpaw glared at Greypaw, and did what Rootclaw told her to do. She then started to help Cliffstar with making an obstacle course. To be continued after I figure out how to stop it from being the scroll text thing... Category:Jazzyooop's epic fanficions